From per@computer.org Fri Nov 10 12:35:26 2000
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 23:04:55 +0100
From: Per Jessen <per@computer.org>
To: "rgb@phy.duke.edu" <rgb@phy.duke.edu>
Subject: J1 serial console

On Wed, 20 Oct 1999, Jessen, Per wrote:

>> I don't feel this is the right forum to argue/discuss the price of 
>> our product, but certainly, if the interest in the J1 card is enough 
>> to turn the card into COTS over-night, we would be the first to welcome
>>it.

>Well, Per, I'm certainly interested in at least getting a price offline.
>Can you tell me price (with shipping to a US address) and email me a
>slightly more detailed tabulation of features and software support?

Dear Robert, 

price-wise, we have set it at EUR120.00, equating to about the same in
US$. 
We're not making the price a secret, but my posting to the list was
perhaps slightly premature as our web-site has yet to go on-line.
Regarding features, I will be forwarding a more detailed description
to you within the next 24 hours. 

>that is, can I pop these suckers into a barebones chassis, connect them
>to a working headfull system via a serial cable through a serial port
>switch, and boot with a standard boot console appearing inside some sort
>of terminal window on the headfull system and if so, how much work do I
>have to do to get there?  Can you provide custom Red Hat boot/install

Release 1 will most probably not cater to co-existence with a videocard.
In confidence, this is most likely to be possible later, although not for
VGA(!) cards. I know that non-VGA cards (MDA and others) are not exactly 
available, however, we have not found a way in which to co-exist with a 
VGA-card.
If this does not answer your question, then here is the short version -

- install the J1 card (assuming factory settings) in your target system.
- bring your laptop and a null-modem cable to your target system. 
- use the null-modem cable to connect your laptop to the target systems
  serial port.
- restart the target system, and control the process from your laptop,
  right until the OS is up.
  
If you have serial switches somewhere along the line, this should not 
interfere with the operation. (not tested).

>disks with the requisite kernel support (if any) so that this works
>automagically, or does it already work automagically by convincing the
>system that the card is both its VGA card and its keyboard interface?

Yes, this is taken care of automagically. Note - if your system has a hard
requirement for the presence of physical keyboard at boot-up, the J1
serial console cannot overcome this. The J1 card does not emulate a keyboard.
We don't currently require any particular kernel support, as we operate
within the environment of the BIOS.

>If the price shipped is on the order of $30 (same as a cheap VGA card)
>and the software is RPM's ready to roll and trivial to use, I'll likely
>buy at least a few of them in the very near term -- one to

Until we (knock on wood) become COTS, US$30/card is utopia. Unfortunately.
If you are interested in a beta-version, however, I can make one
available to you for free. Provided that you and your organization 
will volunteer to become a referencable customer for us, of course.
We are currently awaiting Revision 1, but if this is significantly delayed,
I may be able to send you a Revision 0 (pre-production).

>test/prototype, then more.  I think it is a great product idea and hope
>you succeed in making it a COTS one, although I worry (and I'm sure you
>share the worry) that the volume of the beowulf market may not be enough
>to quite keep you going.  Try to make deals with VAR, Paralogic, and

We do indeed share the worry, although we feel certain that we have
spotted a demand in a niche-market. If we can also encourage the use
in other markets (e.g. NT, as someone has already brought up), then perhaps
we will succeed in turning the J1 serial console into COTS. Keep
your fingers crossed!

>other turnkey beowulf vendors -- this sounds like it is ideal for them
>as it spares them from having to set up SVGA switches or the like for
>clients who want console control over the nodes.

In strict confidence, we have already seen interest from Beowulf vendors, 
which has certainly been encouraging around here .... :-)


kind regards,
Per Jessen, Principal Engineer
ENIDAN Technologies Ltd., London, UK




